In March, the north may still be in a cold spring, but the south is already sunny, and the sea breeze and the warm sun shine on Quanzhou Port. Quanzhou Port, known as Thornton Port in ancient times, was the starting point of the ancient Chinese Maritime Silk Road and the largest port in ancient China. It is located in the coastal harbor of the lower reaches of the Jinjiang River in the southeast of Quanzhou, north to Neiao of Meizhou Bay in Quanzhou, and south to Lianhe in Tong'an District, Weitou Bay, Quanzhou. With a total coastline of 541 kilometers, the port is one of the three major ports in Fujian Province.

Although the historical Quanzhou Port was once and now beautiful, but the war at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty and the Yisi Baxi War at the end of the Yuan Dynasty made her gradually lose the glory of the past, the Ming Dynasty's forbidden sea and the city of the city moved to Fuzhou, so that she gradually embarked on the road of decline, the Qing Dynasty's relocation of Jinghai and the closure of the country completely made the former prosperity of Quanzhou Port disappear.

Just when the people of Quanzhou thought that the port of Quanzhou would never return to its former glory, the Taiping army called. At that time, the guard of Quanzhou was the Qing Army's Fujian Dubiao Zuo Battalion General Lu Chao'an, this person was originally a native of Xiangshan, Guangzhou, the family was rich in business, Xianfeng was born as a martial artist for four years, and then donated a guerrilla official position, and finally went to Fujian, because of the meritorious contribution of money and food, he was promoted to a general by Li Tingyu, the governor of Fujian, and was responsible for guarding Quanzhou.

Although this person is a martial artist, he prefers to do business, and he is also quite good at drilling, but he will definitely not fight to the death. When the Taiping Army Li Kaifang's troops pressed the border, Li Tingyu retreated to Xiamen, Quanzhou was alone, and Lu Chao'an had no more than 3,000 troops in his hands, so he chose to surrender in Kaicheng.

Lu Chaoan has almost scattered his family wealth for his official position, and his parents died early. There are no relatives in Xiangshan, so when Li Kaifang recruited him, Lu Chaoan took refuge in the Taiping Army.

He was not the first Qing court general to defect to the Taiping Army. It's not the last one, but it's the most comfortable one. After defecting to the Taiping Army, Li Kaifang did not appoint him to lead the troops again, but gave him the position of magistrate of Quanzhou County, and told him to run Quanzhou Port well and resume maritime trade.

So Lu Chaoan used his business acumen and organized fishermen to rebuild sea boats. Piers were added, seawalls were repaired, and maritime trade with the Ryukyus was resumed. After more than a year of hard work. Although Quanzhou Port has not been restored to its former glory, it is no longer a dead port overgrown with weeds.

Today, there are three port anchorages in Quanzhou Bay, including Shihu Port, Inner Harbor Port, and Houzhu Port, and the caravans and ships that trade with the Ryukyus from the mainland fill the place. Not far away, Huajin, Xiutu and other port anchorages are still under construction.

The rapid development of Quanzhou Port is not only due to Lu Chaoan's contributions. The Taiping Army's use of troops in Fujian was also a factor. War often brings destruction. But there are exceptions, and the port of Quanzhou is an example. Because of the surrender, Quanzhou was basically not damaged, and then the Taiping army and the Qing army began a tug-of-war in Xiamen, coupled with the mountainous nature of Fujian, the money, food, ammunition and materials needed for the front line were inconveniently transported, so Fujian began to increase the supply of sea, and the shipping of Quanzhou Port was able to develop rapidly in this environment.

But today's Quanzhou port is different from the past. There are many more sailors' ships and sea ships carrying various supplies. In the harbor, soldiers and horses of the Third Division of the newly formed First Army stationed in Fujian came here one after another to board the ship.

It stands to reason that Lu Chao'an, the generals of the Third Division, should be very familiar with them, and Lu Chao'an surrendered to them and handed over Quanzhou. But more than a year has passed. At that time, the division commander had been replaced, many lower-level generals had been promoted, and many people Lu Chaoan didn't know him.

Standing on the wharf of Shihu Port, Lu Chaoan sat on a small horse, and the entourage next to him handed him a hookah, and Lu Chaoan swallowed the clouds and spit out the fog peacefully. Zhang Wenxiang, the commander of the third division on the side, frowned and said: "Lord Lu, our division will definitely complete the boarding the day after tomorrow, and the necessary supplies will also be loaded, but now you see, the dock is crowded with merchant ships, can you afford to delay the military situation?" ”

Lu Chao'an pressed his palm a few times unhurriedly and said: "Master Zhang, don't be impatient, I promise that you will be able to take a boat the day after tomorrow, come, sit down and taste my fresh tobacco leaves, to be honest, I still can't get used to your cigarettes." ”

Zhang Wenxiang sat angrily on the Mazha on the side, but he still had a majestic appearance of a murderous atmosphere, very military, he shouted loudly: "Lord Lu, your cynical appearance is hard to be convincing!" You remember, if our Zhao Zilong can't leave the team on time, Lao Tzu will definitely settle accounts with you! ”

Zhao Zilong's division is the nickname of the third division, the third division has been brave when it fought before, and Zhang Wenxiang, a general born as the head of the cavalry regiment, became the division commander, the third division is even more rapid, and it got the nickname of Zhao Zilong's division.

Zhang Wenxiang led the cavalry into Fujian to fight that year, and his combat achievements were outstanding, and he was soon promoted, and now he is the commander of the third division. Zhang Wenxiang deliberately led his troops to Quanzhou Port to take a boat a day early to take a boat, but he did not expect that today, when Wan Yu's soldiers and horses were still waiting on the shore, and they still could not board the ship.

Lu Chaoan smiled and said, "Senior Commander Zhang, maybe I'm not as good as you in a war, especially when you fight with this kind of Western firearms." But when it comes to playing port shipping, you have to listen to me. The capacity of this port is limited, and when I received the official letter, the port was full of commercial goods, and if you don't empty these goods first, there will be no place for your soldiers and supplies in the port, right? Rest assured, this is the last batch of merchant ships, and after the cargo accumulated in the harbor has been emptied, there will be a place for you to load the ship. Port shipping can not be messed up, if the rhythm and order are messed up, it will delay the time. ”

Hearing this, Zhang Wenxiang's anger was a little less, but he still said loudly: "Lord Lu, the military order is like a mountain, you had better do what you say, otherwise we will end up in a military court together!" With that, he brushed his sleeves and left.

Lu Chao'an smiled, smiled tepidly at the servant and said, "This Qiu Ba's temper is really interesting. ”

Zhang Wenxiang heard it, but he endured it. When he was about to go back, he wrote an official document to complain to the Ministry of War, Lu Chao'an, this guy is really too disagreeable, and there are signs of dereliction of duty.

After returning to the station. Zhang Wenxiang angrily returned to the tent of the headquarters and saw that the division commander's face was not good, and several staff officers who were sorting out the battle plan and drawing were so frightened that they did not dare to come out. Instead, the instructor Zheng Yantuo brought him a cup of hot tea and said with a smile: "Did you go to find Lu Chao'an?" ”

Zhang Wenxiang said angrily: "This guy is a typical Qing Demon old official, he is careless in everything, our division is afraid that he will miss the date of leaving the team!" ”

Zhang Wenxiang was promoted to division commander, and Zheng Yantuo was transferred to the Second Division as a division chief of staff for a period of time, and was recently transferred to the Third Division as an instructor. To be an old partner with Zhang Wenxiang, knowing his temper, he smiled and said: "Quanzhou Port is not a small place. Last year, the trade with the Ryukyus made a profit of millions of taels of silver, and Lu Chaoan was able to achieve the scale of today's in a barren abandoned port, he was not as unbearable as you said. ”

Zhang Wenxiang was stunned for a moment and said: "Then why do I see him smoking hookah tea and watching the scenery in the port, instead of being busy directing the port ships to ship and unload goods?" ”

Zheng Yantuo smiled dumbly and said, "Didn't we also arrange the battle plan and wait for news in the command headquarters?" Could it be that you, a division commander, still have to go to the front line to command a company to fight? ”

Zhang Wenxiang said unconvinced: "But it can't be like this." ”

Zheng Yantuo smiled and said, "Lu Chao'an is angry with you." He was also a warrior back then. Forced to surrender to our 3rd Division, he is deliberately angry with you. ”

Zhang Wenxiang was stunned and said, "Is he so careful?" Zheng Yantuo said with a smile: "He is a businessman who has a heavy habit, and he pays attention to repaying debts, and he naturally wants to get it back if he loses face." But don't worry, he won't miss our trip. ”

In the evening, Zhang Wenxiang still couldn't sleep while lying on the marching bed, and he listened to each other's voices outside, and he got up. Grabbing his sword and spear, he grabbed it out of the tent and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

The guard at the gate replied: "I don't know the division commander, there are many people outside carrying torches to the dock." ”

Zhang Wenxiang still wanted to ask. A battalion commander who was on guard sent a herald to hurriedly report: "Division commander, there are tens of thousands of strong people in Quanzhou carrying torches to the docks, and I don't know what happened. ”

At this time, Zheng Yantuo also came, and Zhang Wenxiang pulled him without saying a word and said, "Let's go, take two companies to the dock and have a look." ”

When the two of them took two companies of men and horses to the wharf, they saw Lu Chao'an standing under the warehouse archway not far away with a big coat, at this time it was drizzling in the sky, from the person holding an oil-paper umbrella, Lu Chao'an calmly looked at the endless stream of young and strong people to the wharf, and then they formed several teams, all the way from the warehouse to the dock in the hold, and then the goods in the warehouse began to be transported to the ship like flowing water.

This mode of transportation is different from that of daytime coolies transporting goods one by one to the ship, and the efficiency has been dramatically increased several times. The young and strong people shouted loudly, and the torches were inserted on the wooden fence beside them, and more than 10,000 torches illuminated the entire Shihu Port.

Zhang Wenxiang was stunned for a long time, and it wasn't until Zheng Yan pulled him to Lu Chao'an's side that he came back to his senses and said, "Lord Lu, what kind of formation are you putting on?" ”

Lu Chaoan got up and saluted Zhang Wenxiang with a fist: "Master Zhang, the people of Quanzhou have always been grateful for the kindness of the Kingdom of Heaven, if it were not for the Kingdom of Heaven, Quanzhou Port would have been abandoned like this, and the people had no way out of making a living, it was the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven that brought a good life to the big guys." In fact, during the day, I called on the young and strong people in the city to prepare to transport the materials to the ship overnight, and it was really impossible to ship them during the day, and the goods in the port were all contracted. ”

Zhang Wenxiang replied with an apology: "I'm sorry, Lord Lu, the tone of the day is not good." ”

Lu Chaoan smiled and said: "I was deliberately angry with you, and it can be regarded as a bad breath of surrender back then, hehe." ”

The three of them looked at each other and laughed, and a storm was revealed. Then that night, as expected, overnight, all the equipment and materials of the Third Division were boarded, and the horses of the cavalry regiment boarded the ship the next morning, and the soldiers boarded the ship in the afternoon.

In the early morning of March 9, Zhang Wenxiang and Zheng Yantuo were the last to board the ship, and when they parted, they said goodbye to Lu Chao'an. Looking at the fleet, which was gradually moving away under the escort of dozens of sailor red single ship battleships, Lu Chaoan muttered to himself: "This is going to fight Guangzhou, it seems that the Kingdom of Heaven will expand its territory at this age, and the original treasure can be regarded as the right ......" (to be continued......